Councillor Chris Penberthy, cabinet member for Housing and Cooperative Development, said the local authority acts quickly to deal with illegal encampments.

He said: "At the time of writing, we do not have any unauthorised encampments in Plymouth.

"As a council, we always act quickly when we are informed about encampments on public land and have a process that helps us to move them.

"The public can help us by reporting any suspected unauthorised encampments to us via our website as soon as possible."

Drone image of travellers at Harewood Park in Plympton - who are believed to have come from Brickfields and Prince Rock

Cllr Penberthy added that the council has a responsibility to "look after" travellers but warned that incidents of criminal damage will be investigated.

"We have a responsibility to look after everyone in this city and we do our best to respect the Gypsy, Romany and Travelling community's right to live their life how they wish, while at the same time balancing the needs of the settled community," he said.